Veering Off
by plaidchameleon
Summary: Felicity is a sophomore at MIT but she was asked to attend a meeting at Queen's Consolidated with seniors from MIT and other colleges for a tour around Queen's Consolidated. There she comes into Oliver's orbit and now he can't get her out of his head. Only he's about to board the Queen's Gambit and she has to finish college.
A/N: I have become pretty inspired by the series of Arrow, especially by the relationship between Oliver and Felicity. This story is AU. Just a little something where I figured Felicity might have actually seen Oliver sooner than he saw her, but I added in him seeing her and thoughts that might have hit him from doing so. I hope that I will do them justice with this one-shot story. This story is unbeta'd. All mistakes are my own.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters as they belong to the series of Arrow.

 **Veering Off:**

Felicity wasn't sure why she agreed to come for the tour of Queen Consolidated. It wasn't her first choice for an intern position. Maybe if they were willing to pay her she might reconsider but for now she was here because the one thing Felicity Smoak knew was that she was not going to head back to Las Vegas and her mother. Yet, with Felicity's background, she knew she was lucky to even be considered for this position, even if her GPA at MIT guaranteed her work almost anywhere.

"Everyone, I'm proud to introduce you to the CEO of Queen Consolidated, Mr. Robert Queen," their guide announced.

An older man stepped forward and smiled. The first thing Felicity noticed about the stately man was his bright blue eyes. Eyes that made you want to trust everything he said. The next thing she noticed was that he seemed to be very fatherly and welcoming to not only the guests but his employees. "Welcome, everyone. We've invited you here because you are some of the best. We hope that, with at least some of you, we can come to a mutual agreement and we can look forward to having you join our staff by this fall."

"Dad, can I talk to you?"

Felicity tried to see above the heads in front of her to see who spoke to Mr. Queen but she couldn't catch more than a shadow as the person stood out in the hallway. Felicity shook her head at the audacity this guy showed in interrupting a business meeting to speak to his father. Either it was important or this guy was so spoiled that breaking his father away from this tour didn't faze him.

Mr. Queen was the epitome of patience as he turned to his son after excusing himself for a moment. Felicity shifted through the crowd so she could be closer to the door but the change in lighting still prevented her from seeing Mr. Queen's son. However, she could hear their whole brief conversation.

"Dad, I need a couple of hundred bucks. Tommy, Laurel and I are going skiing."

The older man didn't even blink at the request. Instead he reached into his pocket and extracted several hundred dollar bills from his wallet and handed it over to his son. Felicity almost wished life was as easy as asking your parents for money. Real life, her life, proved things were never that simple.

"Make sure you take your credit card and make sure you tell your mother of your plans before you head out."

"Thanks, Dad."

For a brief moment Felicity felt like she was being watched as Mr. Queen turned back to the group to resume his speech. She squinted from behind her glasses at the shadowed figure. He was the only one who could be looking at her as everyone else around her was now listening to Mr. Queen as he addressed the group. Which is exactly what she should be doing.

A second man approached, which Felicity only guessed at by the stature of the other person. "Oliver, you ready to go? We still have to pick up Laurel."

Ah, so that must be Tommy, Felicity thought to herself, which made the other man Oliver Queen. Playboy billionaire and recent dropout from Harvard. When the shadows turned, the feeling of being watched faded from Felicity's consciousness, confirming her belief that Oliver Queen was the one staring at her. It didn't matter. She wasn't here to wonder over the eccentricities of the wealthy, she was here to find out if Queen Consolidated was in her future. Sure she still had two years until she graduated, but she had high hopes and thinking of a spoiled rich kid wasn't anywhere in the plans she had.

*OF*OF*OF*OF*

"Who was that?" Tommy asked Oliver as they walked down the hall of Queen's Consolidated.

"I'm not sure." Oliver creased his brow. There was something about the brunette that caught his attention but he couldn't put his finger on why. It wasn't like he hadn't seen more beautiful women or even more interesting women, but whoever she was she held his attention without even trying. And considering women threw themselves at him on a daily basis that was an accomplishment. "Some intern or new prospect or something. Dad's always having new people come in for these tours."

"She seemed awfully young, maybe a few years older than Thea. You think she's one of those computer nerds that always seem to graduate early? And what's with the gothic look? You would have thought she would have toned it down a bit for a business meeting."

"Probably is. And I don't think it was that bad though the lipstick was a little over the top," Oliver scoffed trying to dissuade himself from why he felt bad at saying something bad about the mystery woman. He was unsure why, but despite his plans with Tommy and Laurel, Oliver felt the urge to go back and find out exactly who the woman was. Pushing the urge to the side, he turned to address Tommy as they entered the elevator. "If you ever see me date a nerd, punch me."

"What are friends for?" Tommy said with a responding grin.

*OF*OF*OF*OF*

Oliver woke up in a sweat. Laurel wanted to move in with him. Sara had been all over him at the club last night despite the fact that he was dating her sister. And he hadn't had a decent night's sleep in weeks.

Oddly, his dreams weren't disturbed by the other two issues nor of the fact that Oliver planned to run away from making the decision Laurel wanted him to make. Hell, they hadn't even been tormented by his latest dumb decision to invite Sara to leave with him today on the Queen's Gambit in a bid to not even think about Laurel's proposal of moving in together. No, things were even more complicated than that because his dreams were haunted by a brunette with a Queen's Consolidated visitor's badge. When he had seen her she was dressed in a black blouse with only a trace of white about the collar and a black pencil skirt. However, his mind decided that it needed to place her in varies stages of undress. His most recent one, had him heading for the bathroom for a cold shower. He hadn't had erotic dreams like the one he just experienced since he decided to take out Becky, damn it he couldn't even remember her last name, on a date that ended up with her showing him more about the birds and bees than what was ever taught to him in Biology class. Not that he ever paid attention during class.

Sadly, his dreams usually started innocent enough. They would start with Laurel, or in the case of last night, occasionally Sara, and finished with a woman with dark black lips and a ton of ear piercings. And last night's dream was the worst. He groaned as he braced himself against the tiled wall of his shower. Sara had been there at the club, doing her best to convince him to dance. When that didn't work, she took him to the back and had him dancing in a whole other way. Only when the shadows faded, it wasn't Sara. It was his mystery woman. She massaged his scalp as he kissed her deeply. Then her lips trailed down his chin and ghosted over his chest as she worked her way down his body. When those black lips encircled his hardened dick he almost shot off.

Actually, thinking about it all again, made Oliver do just that, despite the sub-zero temperature of the water sluicing over his body. His fist pounded against the wall as his body found his release in his hand.

How could a woman he hadn't even met have this effect on him? Sure he dated plenty of girls and slept with others. He was Oliver Queen, son of a billionaire, and he had a reputation to uphold. But lately, Laurel had conquered him. She had been a friend through most of his school days, along with Tommy. But something changed in high school. By senior year the two of them were pretty exclusive. Or Oliver tried to be and Laurel definitely was. Then college happened. Several colleges to be exact. It put distance between them and Oliver had found himself straying more and more often. Now, Laurel was about to graduate and head for law school and he was still at loose ends, trying to find his place in this world. She wanted stability and for a brief moment Oliver thought he wanted the same. Then when Sara admitted she had feelings for him, he gave in. He knew he shouldn't have, but the more Laurel pushed the more he headed off into Sara's arms. And when the brunette caught his eye, a third variable popped into his sphere. Hell, it wasn't like he never had fantasies over other women before, he had several. Tommy even helped him indulge in a few. Yet, this woman was something else. Someone else. And he couldn't quite pinpoint why.

Oliver tried to push all those thoughts aside as he grabbed his stuff so he could head for the docks. He had enough misgivings about inviting Sara along. If he thought too hard about it he might just back out and he wasn't sure what he would do then.

Guilt ate at him once the Queen's Gambit was out to sea. Guilt about cheating on Laurel. Guilt for not taking the time to find out who his mystery woman was. Guilt that it was Sara with him and not one of the other two. It wasn't like him to feel guilty. Not that he never felt guilt, he had. He wasn't that bad or that selfish of a person. Yet, this deep gnawing feeling of guilt was new. And apparently something he'd have to live with. This was one problem neither of his parents or money could fix.

Maybe after this trip was over he could change things. First he'd need to tell Laurel he wasn't ready. Despite her assurances that they should be moving along in their lives, he knew for sure he wasn't prepared to be a serious anything. Then, he'd have to tell Sara that things were well and truly over. If he broke Laurel's heart, there was no way Mr. Lance was going to let Oliver near any of his daughters. Let alone if he broke Sara's as well. Then, maybe if fates were with him, he'd find that his mystery woman actually had accepted a position with Queen's Consolidated. Lifting the glass of champagne Sara had poured him to his lips, he promised to stick to the resolve he set for himself when the Queen's Gambit arrived back in the docks of Starling City.

*OF*OF*OF*OF*

Two years later, Felicity spun in her chair in her new cubicle. She had accepted the position with Queen's Consolidated even against her own better judgement. And unlike several of her classmates, she had a permanent position as opposed to only an internship. Yet, when the offer came in, Felicity almost turned it down in favor of another position in Ivy Town. There was something about the offer from Queen's Consolidated that called to her on a baser lever. A level she never really listened to before because it usually led her to making decisions she later regretted. Which when she decided to take the job surprised her that she pushed those exact feelings to the side.

"Miss Smoak?"

Felicity glance up at her new supervisor. He had promised to be there when she arrived but had been called away to an important meeting right before she came in. "Yes?"

"What are you doing here?"

A confused look passed over Felicity's face. She knew it did, because she could feel her forehead crinkle. "I…I work here."

The guy grinned down at her. "I know. But these cubicles are for interns."

"Oh. I was told this was my new office space."

"No, it's really not." He laughed and held out a hand to her. "I know the company is going through a rough time right now with the official change of CEO, but I think there has been a mix up and I apologize."

He led her from the cubicle down the hall to an office equipped with some of the best technology money could buy. "This, Miss Smoak, is your office."

"Really? Not that I'm questioning you, but really?"

"You are one of the best IT specialists we have ever hired straight out of college, Miss Smoak. We've had our eye on you for over two years. I think you deserve it."

With a quick but platonic wink her boss left, closing the door behind him, only to open it a second later. "I need you in my office in two hours to go over your exact work expectations but feel free to roam about the system, or the office, and familiarize yourself in the meantime."

Felicity jumped up and down a little and danced a quick celebratory dance once she was alone. Then worriedly, she glanced out the small window on the office door to make sure no one had seen her. She was finally making something of herself. The girl who sat in the corner of casinos and did her homework while her mother worked double shifts as a cocktail waitress, had made something of herself. Queen Consolidated might not have been what she might have chosen months ago but she could already tell there was no way she would regret her decision to work here. Life was finally going her way.


End file.
